They kept him in a room without windows. He had been there for so long that he didn't even know the time. It could be nighttime or day. The guards outside his door never spoke a word. All Percy could do was sit alone in his room and wait until they would question him again.
But he already knew how that would go. They would drag him into a room with a single light. A woman would be there to ask him questions and he would tell them the truth. But they never believed it. No matter how many times he had to say, "I am not LEGEND!" They never believed it for a second.
"If you're smart enough to break the world economy, you're smart enough to make fake accounts. You claimed you sold the account a year ago but that's also how long LEGEND has been planning this whole thing. Not only that but you're also a Carrier. That means you know the game inside and out."
"I only know enough to get all the good shit and sell it! You have to believe me! PLEASE!"
No matter how much he begged the results were always the same.
When the door opened, Percy didn't even bother to beg. He had lost all his energy just thinking about it. When the tall dark-haired woman in a black skin tight suit came through the door Percy was fully prepared for another round of questioning.
"You're not LEGEND" the woman said.
For a second Percy thought he heard her wrong. He looked at her doubting that she finally believed him.
The woman took one look at him. "You're not LEGEND" she repeated.
Those were the best words Percy had ever heard. "You finally believe me?" If this was some kind of trick then it was a cruel one.
"While you were in this cell LEGEND just went live again," the woman explained. "You're innocent."
Nothing stopped a smile from forming in his lips. There was nothing that could have held his joy and excitement back. "YES!!! OH MY GOD YES!!" He was innocent. They finally said it. He could go home. He could see his family again. His parents. His sister. His pets. He could go back to them.
"Don't celebrate yet," the woman warned. "You're not going anywhere."
"What?" They just said he was innocent. "What do you mean I'm not going anywhere?"
"You are going to help us find LEGEND," the woman explained. "The Agency has concluded that you are in fact innocent. But we also dug deep into you're career as a Carrier and you might be one of the be one of the best in the word. You found a way to obtain some of the games hardest items like it was nothing. You created multiple accounts each with a 100% completions on all of them. You even once carried an entire raid of 30 players through Elysium's hardest bosses. Quite the accomplishment for someone so young."
Percy was glad that someone was acknowledging his skill but but he just couldn't get it out of his head that there was more than she was telling him. "That doesn't answer the question."
"We have concluded that you aren't LEGEND. But most people haven't. While you have been trapped in this cell how many people do you think had already deemed you guilty. Once word leaked that you created LEGEND_ you became the most hated man in the world. How many people do you think have harassed your family while you were in here? How do you think people will react if you were let out?"
Percy didn't know what to think of that. He didn't even know where to begin. Just as he had been celebrating and cheering he had been defeated once again. He began to wonder just how long he had been held there. What had changed? How were his family weathering the storm?
"While LEGEND runs free you will never be able to have a normal life again. Most people don't have the resources we do. So most of them will still think you're LEGEND_ if he isn't caught. After all they have no one else to blame. Do you think that you can live your life like that?"
Percy didn't need to think long to know that he couldn't. "No." He began to curse that name. That account. If he could change one thing in his life it would have been selling that account. That one action had cursed him. It had ruined him.
"Then help us. Help us catch LEGEND and could not only prove your innocence to the world but also become a hero. So what do you say, Percy? You want to help us?"
Hero. Percy liked the way that sounded. After everything that happened Percy wanted to go home. But what would that even look like? LEGEND had ruined his life. With what the Agency was offering him now, he could take revenge on LEGEND he become a hero while doing so. That was an offer that was just too good to pass off.
Percy steeled his resolve and turned to look the woman in the eye. "Yeah."